Director's Messages

For this Director’s Message, I’m delighted to share this stage with NINDS Deputy Director Dr. Nina Schor, who is heading up the enormously important process of developing the next Strategic Plan for our Institute.

NIH is deeply committed to ensuring research integrity. There have been a number of high-profile stories in the media involving undisclosed foreign support and/or affiliations on applications for NIH funding, and, in some circumstances, diversion of proprietary information in NIH grant applications.

I often wonder why different investigators have gone on to reach different levels of scientific achievement. I do not have an easy answer. Some have extraordinary talent and creativity; some were in the right scientific place as a field was breaking new ground; some are so passionate about their science that they persist through any and all difficulties. However, I feel that guidance from mentors may be the most impactful common thread.

Recently, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins announced his intention to accept speaking invitations at meetings and conferences only if meeting organizers have taken diversity and inclusiveness seriously in selecting  speakers and developing the agenda.

May is Stroke Awareness Month—a good opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made in stroke prevention and treatment and also think about challenges and opportunities.

This week, along with many of my NINDS colleagues, I am joining members of the neurology community in Philadelphia for the 71^st annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). The meeting brings together an important and vital group of researchers and clinicians who are essential to the NINDS mission.

We are so looking forward to the fifth annual Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative Investigators Meeting, when approximately 1,500 scientists from many disciplines will generate this hum from April 11-13, 2019 at the Wardman Park Marriott in Washington, DC.

This week, we celebrate the most mysterious and fascinating organ in the body—the brain—by participating in Brain Awareness Week, March 11-17. The goal of Brain Awareness Week is to increase public awareness of the brain and the progress and benefits of brain research.